La Porchetta boss fined $334,000 for paying staff with pizza and soft drinks

A CHEATING La Porchetta franchise owner who tried to save dough by paying staff in pizza and soft drink has been fined $334,000 for breaking employment laws.

Teenage waiters, cooks and kitchen hands at the cut-price pizza chain’s Pakenham and Berwick stores were underpaid $258,000 over four years.

One worker was short-changed $25,000.

Federal Circuit Court judge John O’Sullivan imposed the fines on franchisee Ruby Chand, saying he was not convinced the employer was “genuinely remorseful.”

“It was not disputed that it was a practice for employees … to get ‘free’ or ‘half-priced’ food and pizza and soft drinks and that the respondents now understand that this cannot ‘offset’ legal obligations to employees,” he ruled last Friday.

“Such a practice belongs in the dark ages.”

The Fair Work Ombudsman took court action after it received a complaint against Mr Chand.

Its investigation found 111 employees were underpaid between July 2009 and February 2012.

Mr Chand systematically paid below minimum wages, withheld annual leave and casual loadings, and did not keep accurate records.

The Tecoma man also claimed $45,000 in government subsidies for hiring apprentices and trainees while ripping of his staff.

Mr Chand will now have to pay back the wages and the fines, leaving him almost $600,000 out of pocket.

Mr Chand’s companies, Bound for Glory Enterprises and Zillion Zenith International Pty Ltd, owned the franchises.

The companies were each fined $139,507.50 and Mr Chand was personally fined $55,803.

Mr Chand claimed he had been distracted from his businesses at the relevant time.

“Mr Chand’s father was seriously ill, having been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and heart problems,” his lawyers argued.

“Mr Chand visited his father five times in India during this period, spending approximately 23 weeks outside Australia.”

The franchisee, who claimed the fines would cause him hardship, owns a home in Donvale and an investment property in Beaconsfield, but provided no evidence of mortgages or equity in the properties.

Mr Chand did not return calls yesterday.

Source:  The Herald Sun - 10th June 2014